Kim's Martial Arts in Addison

Hi' i'm a teacher from Kim's Martial Arts - i'm here to tell you about us.

A quick breakdown and elaboration on some of our ratings

Aliveness - Since this is generally a question about sparring, i went with 8. The TKD sparring gear is good at preventing injuries, allowing us to go all out. I could also talk about how it trains to hit vital points around someone's guard, but i'm sure that's allready been talked to death about.

Size - We have a separate weight lifting, bathroom (Both gender), Mat area, and Waiting room, along with an office and Master's Room)

Atmosphere - We're teach a lot of kids. It's definitely a focus, but the adult class gets treated a bit more harshly. We are not here to mollycoddle you.

Striking instruction - I'd like to say 10 here, but i'm basing this on Me, and i haven't won the games yet. I have traveled to korea for a tournament, and i'm going next year, so there is that, does that count? We win alot of local tournaments, but nothing non local. I'm also going into MMA, so there is that

Grappling instructions- Outside of one steps, we have seminars on grappling, as well as black belt classes where we go over judo and hapkido techniques. So i went with 4, we're not a grappling school, but we do teach some.

Weapons - Yeah, we're a bare hand school. We have weapon seminars, but no sparring.

Sorry, but a teacher rating his own school like this is a little odd to me.

At least they're being honest, so you can take the atmosphere rating with a grain of salt.

Originally Posted by TKDbrah

Aliveness - Since this is generally a question about sparring, i went with 8. The TKD sparring gear is good at preventing injuries, allowing us to go all out.

This I would question, however. If it's like other TKD schools, then you're looking at full body shields, helmets, possibly even shinguards and no headpunches, right? Warrants maybe a 7 at best. Discussed here:

I could also talk about how it trains to hit vital points around someone's guard, but i'm sure that's allready been talked to death about.

Having seen plenty of footage of competitive TKD, I'd have to ask you what guard you're talking about. And if you're saying that chest pads are advantageous because they teach fighters to aim around them, then you must never have heard of the liver kick.

If, conversely, you're saying that the pads are advantageous because they teach fighters to focus on them to the exclusion of other targets, then do you even low-kick brah?

en plenty of footage of competitive TKD, I'd have to ask you what guard you're talking about. And if you're saying that chest pads are advantageous because they teach fighters to aim around them, then you must never have heard of the liver kick.

I think TKDBrah is talking about it within the TKD context, so against a TKD or other general TMA/Karate guard. Its been a loooooooong time since I did TKD, but I do remember them emhpasizing it. I also remember our in-school sparring stances were different than when we prepped for competition.

We compete in the WTF local tournaments, though get back to me in a month and i'll have some sparring vids

Originally Posted by Azatdawn

Sorry, but a teacher rating his own school like this is a little odd to me. Especially when you're supposed to rate the quality of instruction and the atmosphere.

Well, i tried to be honest about our goals for our students, and as i said, we have a large amount of kids - there is a large focus on the atmosphere of the school.

Originally Posted by The Cap

At least they're being honest, so you can take the atmosphere rating with a grain of salt.

This I would question, however. If it's like other TKD schools, then you're looking at full body shields, helmets, possibly even shinguards and no headpunches, right? Warrants maybe a 7 at best. Discussed here:

Having seen plenty of footage of competitive TKD, I'd have to ask you what guard you're talking about. And if you're saying that chest pads are advantageous because they teach fighters to aim around them, then you must never have heard of the liver kick.

If, conversely, you're saying that the pads are advantageous because they teach fighters to focus on them to the exclusion of other targets, then do you even low-kick brah?

Good on you guys for hosting a throwdown.

Tbch, i would have gone with 7.5, simply because there are a lot of schools that use the pads to play foot tag, but we tend to use them to spar hard without injuries. so i went with 8 and figured i'd just explain it to anyone who asks.

As for guarding, the traditional "points" of tkd, namely the sides of the body, and head sans face, are all areas of the body that could be considered weak points. You mentioned liver kicks - Did you know it's possible to kick someone in the liver through those pads? it takes a bit more force, but i've done it plenty of times/had it done to me.

As for your "Low kick" point, it 's not so much the focus on the pads, but the focus on misdirection - There are only so many legal targets in TKD sparring, so that it's easy to guard against those shots. The upside of this is that it creates a higher focus on misdirection, bringing a guard focus up high while you sneak in a "Low" (Body) kick, then kicking to the head when they think you're going low, for example.

As for leg kicks themselves, we practice in forms/combinations, but rarely practice them in sparring. Partially because they're not allowed in TKD comps, partially because there's allready quite a bit of leg-leg contact when you force two guys to kick each other. Not that it's the same as deliberately kicking someone in the leg, but we don't have much of a focus on that.

As for the Throwdown, it's postponed right now, but it'll definitely be an option for the future if there's some interest.

Sorry, but a teacher rating his own school like this is a little odd to me. Especially when you're supposed to rate the quality of instruction and the atmosphere.

I always ignore what they say about atmosphere, because it seems to be a binary value - either it's a 10 for being tae kwon domygodit'sfantastic, or a 1 for tae kwon douchebags. Fact is, a big reason anybody trains somewhere is because the training atmosphere and internal culture works for that person.

I always ignore what they say about atmosphere, because it seems to be a binary value - either it's a 10 for being tae kwon domygodit'sfantastic, or a 1 for tae kwon douchebags. Fact is, a big reason anybody trains somewhere is because the training atmosphere and internal culture works for that person.